Future Business Leaders Find a Home at Fertitta Hall

Tomorrow’s business leaders learn and innovate at USC Marshall’s new academic hotspot.

New Fertitta building photographed on Sept. 15, 2016.
(Photo/Susanica Tam)

Behind its soaring gothic archways, 145-foot turret and pointed glass windows lies the exciting future of undergraduate business education. The newly opened Jill and Frank Fertitta Hall, the fifth and largest building in use by the USC Marshall School of Business, hosts features custom-made for an increasingly high-tech and globalized world.

Walk through the five-story building’s glass doors and a movie-screen-sized interactive video wall shares listings of the day’s events and news headlines. A few steps away, lines at the popular Asian-themed café form early for banh mi, ramen and sushi.

Students heading to classes like technology entrepreneurship or talent management make their way around two lecture halls, three interactive learning spaces, 20 classrooms and a new business library. More than 50 breakout rooms and collaborative spaces—outfitted with laptop hook-ups, video screens and Wi-Fi, of course—are encouraging students to remain in the school’s academic space as never before.

In the basement, the Experiential Learning Center bridges business theory with practice. Students learn to negotiate and resolve conflicts in mock scenarios while professors and classmates observe. It sounds intense, but junior Nebal Jebarah couldn’t wait to start as part of her organizational behavior and leadership class. “It’ll teach me how to be better in those situations later in my career,” said the transfer student from Cerritos College.

Creating a dynamic and collaborative learning space for future business leaders was the inspiration for Fertitta Hall, which officially opened in September and anchors the southeast corner of the University Park Campus. Its namesakes, USC Trustee Frank J. Fertitta III ’84 and his wife, Jill, support the university that he and their three children attended, while providing opportunities for others who will follow.

“The education I received at USC Marshall formed the cornerstone of how I approach business every day,” said Fertitta, chairman and chief executive officer of Red Rock Resorts Inc. “Jill and I are thrilled to know that this new facility will provide a rich educational environment and a home for business undergraduates at USC.”